Portfolio Category: Non-Fiction

While many modern societies are noted for their diversity, the resulting challenge is to determine how citizens from different backgrounds and cultures can see themselves and each other as equals, and be treated equally. In Genuine Multiculturalism, Cecil Foster shows that a society’s failure to bridge these differences is the tragedy of modern living and that pretending it is possible to mechanically develop fraternity and solidarity among diverse groups is akin to seeking out comedy. Arguing that genuine multiculturalism is the search for social justice by individuals who have been trapped by ascribed identities or newcomers who have been shut out of perceived ethnic homelands, Foster details how this process, in essence, is the story of the Americas. Reconceptionalizing the terms of multiculturalism, he offers an intervention into Canada’s claim that its definition and practice are based on recognizing equality of citizenship. Identifying genuine multiculturalism as an ongoing work in progress, rather than a tightly defined policy position, Foster challenges readers to imagine a greater and more harmonious ideal. A necessary theoretical reconsideration of diversity within society, Genuine Multiculturalism refocuses the debate about ideals and practices in modern societies.

Imagine a society in which every individual is treated as somone of value and worth, as part of a community of his or her choosing, and ultimately as part of the only race that matters – the human race.
Originally intended to be a white man’s country, Canada helped develop the prototype for the nation-state that privileged the descendants of Western Europe and marginalized all others, including those who were aboriginal to the land. This is the prototype that also characterized apartheid South Africa.

Hard-hitting, controversial and well researched, A PLACE CALLED HEAVEN lifts the thin veil of racism against blacks in Canada. Cecil Foster maintains that what Canada’s mainstream delivers to the black community is skewed justice, fear as a first response, fair-weather political representation, and a sensationalist media. Exploring how crime, violence, immigration and women’s issues all influence and affect the present and future of the black community, Foster shatters the myth of black cultural homogeneity and looks behind the stereotypes and statistics to find out what’s happening within the black community itself.
With numerous interviews of members of the black community, including those who have become successful despite the odds, A PLACE CALLED HEAVEN is a brave, bold account of the troubled state of race relations in Canada today.